Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-08-28
CARRIAGE, SIR"
A Curbstone Conversation with One OF
the Familiar Figures of the Streets
of Every Modern City.
Some of the Trials and Fluctuations of
Hack Driving-Rendercd Tough"
by Their Peculiar Surroundings.

GAZETTE reporter, as he stood last
night in the shade of sn electric light,
holding his long whip in mis- hand. "DuI,
dull, dull" he repeated abstrsctedly, SIS
ne glanced up and down the street.
"What's dull?" Queried the scribe.
Carriage, sir; carriage-..ke you any
where in town r-pshaw, l thought
| it was somebody"
"Well, am l not somebody" demanded
the scribe, beginning to look terrible in
his wrath. as the clouds OF displeasure
, gathered Ominously round lis usually
serene COUntenance.
eyes, but mean 6 customer I tell
you it's dull these times, surely; nothing
doing"
sit seems to me heard you make that
remark some time ego, when first came
UP. Do you really think it is dull. or 30
You lust keep saying so TO pass the
time?''
OTIS really and horribly dull. Never
saw it Is bad"
"Did you ever really see it when it was
otherwise than dull"
Course L did, seven or eight years
ago msn could do something with s
hack; now he can do nothing"
"But," persisted the scribe, "seven or
eight years ago didn't you think it was
Gull then-about as dull as you think it
is now? In other words didn't you kick
shout dull times then Just as you do
noW?"
"D1d I? should say I did. Ia those
days We would roar If we didn't make it
all, IN one night. We were never salts
fed with enough. When we got load
we were on nettles to dump them and get
Misunderstanding, sir?-and we took it
as an act Of robbery If people did not
keep US busy. Aud charge? Whew, We
would get as much out Of msn then as
we can out of four now. Times ere
changed now and everything is regular
It's like trading dollars to haul & man"
"Don't yOu believe that four or five
years from now you will look back 2nd
think tunes like this pretty good?"
"Nc; times can't be much worse than
they are, and nothing can make me think
these are good"
"Teu me something about hack driv-
ing; how are hack drivers paiG?"
"Vsrious ways. Some work on CON-
| mission, some work for salaries and some
| own their hacks. 1t is al SPOUT the same
thing. In Fort Worth, for instance, we
have regular prices. From the hotels TO
| the depot it is % cents and 30 cents to
private houses. There are some hack
drivers who now and then violate This
agreement when they get hold Of stran-
ger and charge him all they think he'll
stand, but most OF them live up TO it."
"Some pretty tough citizens in the
business?" suggested the reporter.
though? Yes, some Of them are, out
not all. There is just as nice gentlemen
driving hacks as are to be found sny-
where, ami there are sCme OF the hardest
cases in the world in the same business.
Il IS no wonder though. If you had to
deal with all classes as we GO, you would
not be surprised either. l think 8 hack
drivers life is about the hardest in the
world. He is exposed TO all kinds Of
weather, heat and cold, sun and storm,
snow and rain. He is up at all hours
and must go to all places. He must
know every place in town-every street
and number, every nook and corner,
every place, good and bad, he must know
or he can't succeed. Then the class
of people he has to deal with
OF course it is ell right to pop
your whip on pretty day and roll along
g good street, but 1t is not al like that
1t is hard to drum up business, and it is
often harder to get your money. You
see, everybody thinks the hack driver is
legitimate prey, and you would be sur
Drised to know how much money is lost
by men refusing to pay. Business men
and merchants who always have money
will get in and ride and when they get
out, give you a standof. There are some
in this town who make g practice OF this,
and what can we do? Go around and dun
them now and then, but they don't pay,
and running after this one and that one
for quarter or dollar is poor business
have got now so thst when
l haul man and ne don't pay me, con-
| slider it lost, and if l do collect 1t an as
much surprised as pleased. Yes, hack-
men are sometimes hard cases, but their
| existence depends on it. They have to
look sharp or they get left"
"Don't the boys work the rabbit foot
| on the bosses sometimes?"
eyes; some new men try sometimes,
but it never lasts. A mans work has to
show up, and If he holds out the old man
gets after him SO quick that he secs stars,
and has to hunt another job"
$50 you have much trouble in collect
ing fares?"
"Sometimes The biggest fools IN the
world ride in hacks l have had them
ride for sn hour and want to pay me q
nickle, thought it was the same as the
street car. 1 have had people send me
on errands to the South Side and expect
me to charge them quarter. OF course
sensible men know better and pay what
is right"
"About how many hours g day do you
work."
81 can't say; from ten TO fourteen
Hard work? Yes, butwe must stand it
Carriage, sir? All right, jump in," aud
he shut the hack door with q slam and
was gone. The scribe pondered little
and concluded ne would rather tend c
wind mill on bald prairie than be q
hack driver.